Marking means utilizing colored liquid at the edge of a strip in an open field or country

ABSTRACT

THE STRIP MARKER OF THE PRESENT INVENTION EFFECTS THE MARKING OF A STRIP IN AN OPEN FIELD OR LAND THAT IS BEING TREATED BY INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZING MATERIAL, OR THE LIKE AND WHEREIN SAID FIELD EDGE MARKINGS ARE BY MEANS OF A COLORED LIQUID THAT IS READILY DISTINGUISHABLE FROM A DISTANCE, THE SAID MARKING MECHANISM IS ADAPTED TO BE ATTACHED TO THE LAND STRIP CONDITIONER AND WHICH IS GENERALLY A SELF-CONTAINED AND SELF-PROPELLED TRUCK AND FROM THE POWER MECHANISM OF THE TRUCK OR TRACTOR THE SAID FIELD MARKER IS OPERATED. THIS FIELD MARKER WHILE MARKING BY COLORED LIQUID IS NOT A CONTINUOUS STRIP BUT IS MERELY SPOTS OF THE SAID LIQUID MARKING MATERIAL.

Sept. 20, 1971 c. 1.. ROSSELOT 3,606,254

MARKING MEANS UTILIZING COLORED LIQUID AT THE EDGE OF A STRIP IN AN OPEN FIELD OR COUNTRY Filed May 7, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I; 1 0 95 75 7 Y 'o/ 9 7! 7 72 .4 I00 a 83 32 I 6'1 J I og. l8 6 6 L224 42.

INVENTOR CLIFFORD L. Pusanr 6] c. L. ROSSELOT 3,606,264 MARKING ,MEANS UTILIZING COLORED LIQUID AT THE EDGE OF Sept. 20, 1971 A STRIP IN AN OPEN FIELD OR COUNTRY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 7. 1969 JNVENTOR CLIFFORD L.R0$5|.o'r

United StatesPatent O 3,606,264 MARKING MEANS UTILIZING COLORED LIQUID AT THE EDGE OF A STRIP IN AN OPEN FIELD R COUNTRY Clifford L. Rosselot, P.O. Box 183, Owensville, Ohio. 45160 Filed May 7, 1969, Ser. No. 822,434

- Int. Cl. B01f 15/02 U.S Cl. 259-4 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The strip marker of the present invention effects the marking of a strip in an open field or land that is being treated by insecticides, fertilizing material, or the like and wherein said field edge markings are by means of a colored liquid that is readily distinguishable from a distance, the said marking mechanism is adapted to be attached to the land strip conditioner and which is generally a self-contained and self-propelled truck and from the power mechanism of the truck or tractor the said field marker is operated. This field marker while marking by colored liquid is not a continuous strip but is merely spots of the said liquid marking material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in marking means and particularly to marking means utilizing colored liquid at the edge of a strip in an open field or country.

It is well-known, that, in fields and farming countries, the earth is treated with fertilizing materials, insecticides, and the like, as well as by scatter sowing of certain seeds, and that the mechanism used in said fields are so designed and arranged that the treatment is for a particular and given width of strip in being so fertilized, seeded, or the like, by a self-contained vehicle, such as self-propelled truck. It is also well-known that the said field should not be overly treated, which could happen unless the previously treated strip were marked as to the longitudinal edge of treatment. Also, to have an untreated strip adjacent to or between treated strips would likewise be uneconomical since the said untreated strip would either not produce properly or would be infested with insects and the like that could readily extend into the previously treated strip and be above the insecticide treatment.

The principal object of this invention is, therefore, broadly, to provide a marking mechanism wherein use is made of a tank of colored liquid, that is, water or the like in which is dissolved or suspended color or colored particles.

Another object of this invention is the provision of means wherein the said colored liquid is deposited along the edge of the strip being fertilized in spots or patches and which spots or patches are readily discernable from a distance and due to the wetness thereof the said material is retained on the ground for a greater time than the dry materials as heretofore used.

Another object of this invention is the provision in a marking mechanism of electrically controlled or operated means for effecting the discharge of the said marking liquid which is adjustable so that, depending upon conditions, said marking spots or patches may be variably distanced from one another.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of means for accomplishing the foregoing objects which is relatively inexpensive to effect the results desired and may be readily attached to existing vehicles.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention should be readily apparent by references to the following Patented Sept. 20, 1971 specification considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described without departing from or exceeding the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a self-propelled vehicle with which the mechanism of the present invention is employed.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, opposite to that of FIG. 1, of the vehicle of FIG. 1 with which the invention of the present invention is employed.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the self-propelled vehicle with which is employed the mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view through a tank forming a detail of the present invention, as seen from line 4--4 on FIG. 3. 4

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the tank asseen from line 55 on FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a semi-diagrammatical view of a portion of the mechanism as employed in marking the earth.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the mechanism normally included in the drive or operation of the vehicle seeding or fertilizing mechanism as employed.

FIG. 8 is a wiring diagram of the electrical system that may be employed in the operation of the present invention.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

This invention is an improvement on or an addition to the present inventors prior structure, as disclosed in United States Pat. No. 3,391,828, and as further disclosed in pending application 'Ser. No. 729,722 filed May 16, 1968 for Electrically Operated Means for Marking the Edges of a Strip. While, as just stated, the present invention represents an improvement on applicants prior patent application, it may be more proper to say that the present invention is employable with or supplementary to the mechanism disclosed in said patent application.

Accordingly the present invention contemplates the utilization of a truck or tractor of the self-contained or self-operable type and which truck is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 10 and which includes the usual gasoline, or diesel power, engine beneath the engine hood 11 for driving either the front wheels 12, or the back wheels 13, or both sets of wheels, and which driving mechanism is not illustrated in the drawings as it is believed to be well understood. Disposed beneath the truck hood 11 is a battery, or other electrical power source 14, which is needed, as is well-known, to operate the self-contained motor, supra. The battery has extending from one side or pole thereof a wire 15 which has its other end connected to a portion of the vehicle metal chassis 16. This wire 15 is generally referred to as the ground wire and the metal chassis is the ground even though it is insulated from the earth by the rubber tires on the truck wheels. I I

Associated with the truck 10 is the cab 17 housing the truck operator for, during the movement of the truck, feeding fuel from a tank 18, which may be mounted adjacent the truck cab, to said engine and for the steering of the vehicle 10. This cab 17 also houses the control mechanism for the strip side marking device as will presently be made clear.

The engine beneath the hood 11 has a power take-off shaft 19 which, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, is connected through a coupling 20 to a shaft 21 which terminates in an air compressor 22, as particularly shown in FIG. 2. It should be noted that the air compressor 22 is well-known 3 and includes a piston operating in a cylinder for pushing air ahead of it into a compresed air tank, all as will presently be made clear.

The self-propelled vehicle includes, as is well-known and above set forth, a chassis or supporting frame 16 to which the wheels 12 and 13, which. may be either single or double, are connected through suitable axles, all as is well-known and not shown in the drawings. Mounted on the chassis 16 is the truck body, indicated in general by the reference character 23, which, as shown in FIG. 3, is, or has, its lower portion 24 trough-like in elevation and hollow to contain fertilizer, insecticide, or any ground or earth sowing or conditioning material. As further seen in FIG. 3, the said truck body23 has relatively short sides 25 and 26 extending vertically of the truck body and inclined bottom walls 27 and 28. The said'walls 27 and 28 terminate in a discharge mechanism 29 which, in turn, is connected through distributor box 30 with distributor tubes 31 and 32. As shown in FIG. 7 the discharge mechanism 29 of the truck body 23 is provided with a rotatable feed screw 33 which controls and continuously pushes the material in the truck body to the discharge 29 and eventually to the tubes 31 and 32.

The foregoing relatively simple description of the distributing truck of the present invention is set out in full in applicants prior U.S. Pats. 2,369,755 and 2,511,514 to which further reference may be had if desired and, as will be noted from said patents, said distributing tubes 31 and 32 are adapted to be detachable from the truck so that it may pass through an ordinary or average gate in the fence that normally surrounds farm fields. The reason for the detachable feed tubes 28 and 29 is that the said tubes have a combined length that is, a distance from the outer end of tube 28 to the outer end of tube 29, of twenty (20) to forty (40) feet, the average distance being in the neighborhood of thirty (30) feet.

Treatment of the earth or field beneath the tubes 31 and 32 is effected through a substantially continuous flow from a multiplicity of openings or jets, from each of which extends a jet stream 34 to the earth therebeneath.

The operation of the feed screw 33 is effected through a chain of motion transmission members or means, one form of which could include, as follows:

Assuming the rear wheels 13 of the truck to be the driven wheels and which wheels may include a pair of wheels at each end of the drive shaft in the axle housing 35. For purposes of description and referring particularly to FIG. 3, the rear wheel 13A has adjacent thereto a bracket 36 which includes depending arms 37 and 38. The bracket 36 is secured to the truck chassis 16 to depend, as noted above, adjacent the driving surface of the drive wheel 13A. Carried by the bracket arms 37 and 38 is a shaft or axle 39 on which is mounted, between the said bracket arms 37 and 38, a wheel 40, which conveniently takes the form of a rubber wheel similar to, but considerably smaller in diameter than, the drive wheel 13A. As seen in FIG. 1 the said driven wheel 40 is positioned to have firm peripheral contact with the periphery of the driving wheel adjacent thereto, and wherefore the driven wheel 40 has a peripheral travel equal to the periperal travel of its driving wheel 13A even though the said driven wheel 40 may rotate at a higher rate of speed.

The shaft or axle 39 extends beyond, laterally of, the bracket arm 37 of the bracket 36 to have secured to its projecting end a belt pulley 41, and which belt pulley 41 is in alignment with a second belt pulley '42 on the outer end of a shaft 43. The pulleys 41 and 42 are connected with one another by a belt 44, and which belt and pulleys are of the well-known V construction.

The shaft 43 with the pulley 42 on one end thereof is conveniently journaled for rotation in the bracket arms 37 and 38 and said shaft 43 has at its other, inner, end a pulley 45 similar to the pulley 42. The pulley 45 is in line with a pulley 46 on a shaft 47 carried by and outwardly extending from a miter or bevel gear housing 48. The

4 pulleys and 46, similar to the pulleys 41 and 42, are of the well-known V type and are connected to one another byaVbelt49.

The miter or bevel gear housing 48 is carried by a bracket 50 which upstands from the chassis 16 and,"as its name implies, the said housing 48 includes a pair of bevel, or miter gears 51 and 52, see FIG. 7, with said bevel gear 51 being on the inner end of'the shaft 47, supra. The bevel gear 52 is secured to the inner end of a shaft 53 which is journaled in the gear box 48 and outwardly projects therefrom withsaid shaft exteriorly of the gear box 48 having secured thereto a pulley 54, again, having 'a groove of the familiar V shape cross-section.

The pulley 54 is in alignment witha second pulley 55 on the shaft 56 which is integral with and outwardly projects from the feed screw 33. The pulleys 54 and 55 are connnected with one another for motion transmission therebetween by a V 'belt 57.

Up to this point it will be noted that the feed screw 33 is driven in timed relation to the speed of the vehicle or truck and that the earth'or field treatment is being continuously supplied during the movement of the truck.

As was noted above this invention pertains to a marking mechanism to mark the side or sides of the s trip being treated so that the next strip will be treated adjacent to and laterally of the preceding strip. This marking mechanism, as will 'be presently described in'detail, is operated in connection with and in relation to the rotation and drive of the feed screw 33.

The compressed air pump .22, previously referred to, is mounted on a portion of the truck chassis 16 and, again. as noted above, it is of a well-known variety for compressing air and pushing the said air from itself into a tube or pipe 58, see FIG. 2, that extends to a compressed air tank 59, and which pipe or tube 58 has therein a manually operated shut off valve 60. The compressed air tank,

in turn, has extending therefrom a pipe or conduit 61 which terminates in a one way check valve 62 and from which said check valve 62 a pipe or conduit 62a to the lower end of a marking material tank 63. The marking material tank 63 contains the liquid and a coloring material which may suspend or dissolve in the liquid, specifically, said marking materials may be dehydrated lime and water, or any other suitable marking material, so long as it is liquid, to mark or effect the edge of the strip being treated.

The compressed air tank 59 has therein compressed air under pressure up to eighty (80) pounds per square inch and in order to regulate or maintain the desired pressure in the said compressed air tank 59, as well as maintain the pressure in the marking material tank 63, there is provided a relief or air pressure maintaining valve 66, preferably hand adjustable, in an outlet pipe or conduit 64 from the said marking material tank 63 which is adjustable and, as noted above, is set to have the air in the tank at a pressure no greater than the desired pressure, or, as noted above a compressed air pressure of eighty (80) pounds per square inch.

The marking materials tank 63 comprises a bottom 67 which may be, for convenience, rectangular in cross-section and has extending upwardly from the bottom opposed side walls 68 and end walls 69. Near the open upper end of the walls 68 and 69 there .is provided an inwardly extending ledge, or the like, 70 on which is mounted a cover 71, with said cover being secured in position by any suitable or desirable means, such as a wing nut 72 and a bolt or the like 73 extending upwardly from the said-cover supporting ledge 70.

Substantially, centrally of the cover 70 is provided a tapered or conical shaped valve seat 74 having coopcrating therewith a valve 75. The valve 75 has depending therefrom a stem 76 for a spring 77 which maintains the pressure, that is, prevents the pressure within the tank 63, from exceeding a desired amount, as for example, as established by the said pressure maintaining valve 66.

" As, will be seen in FIG. 6, the pipe or conduit 62a terminates in a ring, hollow lug or the like, 78 projecting from one of the end walls 69 and is secured therein by a set screw 79 with the said pipe 62a internally of the tank 63 being provided with a venturi tube 80 which acts as an agitator for the materials within the tank 63 as the air is forced thereinto. The tank end wall 69, substantially diametrically opposite to the collar 78 is provided with a second collar, hollow lug, or the like 81 in which the discharge pipe 64 has its inner end secured as by a set screw 82. It is in this pipe that the said air pressure control valve 66 is located and with the marking liquid material tank discharge conduit or pipe 64 from the said air pressure control valve 66 terminating in a quick opening solenoid control valve 85. Also in the discharge pipe 64 is an air pressure gauge 83 determining the pressure by adjustment of the valve 66.

In the pipe 61 is the one way check valve 62 which prevents the pressure from reversing itself in the said pipe 62 due to the fact that the manual control pressure establishing valve 66 may be closed, for any reason whatsoever.

As noted above, the solenoid valve 85 has extending from its lower end a marking mechanism or device that may readily be designated as a nozzle 86 and through which the material for marking will be projected, as will subsequently be made clear. The said solenoid valve 85 is provided with the usual stem and the control or operating solenoid 87, again, as is well-known.

. In practice, and referring now to FIGS. 1, 3 and 6, the valve controlled electric solenoid 87 (FIG. 6) has connected therewith a pair of electrical wires 88 and 89 the latter of which, namely, wire 89 is connected with the ground as indicated by the ground symbol 90. It is understood that the wires 88 and 89 are, in fact, a single wire having therein the solenoid valve coil 87 and that the ground, 90, supra, is the chassis 16 of the truck. The second Wire 88 terminates in a terminal connection 91 of a limit switch, or, an on and oflf switch, 92. Extending from the second terminal 93 of the on and off switch 92 is a wire 94 which at its end, in FIG. 6, carries a or electrical positive symbol, and, in fact, extends to the second or positive terminal of the normal truck battery 14.

The said wire 94, in eflFect, is the control wire and actually terminates at a terminal 95, see FIG. 1, of a manually operated switch 96 and the second terminal 97 of said switch 96 has connected therewith one end of a wire 98 which, supra, terminates in a positive terminal of the truck battery 14.

The on and off switch 96 is a manually operable switch on the inclined portion of the floor of the cab or may actually be on the dashboard of said cab. The switch operating button 98 may be operated by the hand or the foot depending upon the actual position of the switch 96.

A branch electric wire 100 extends from the wire 94, see particularly FIG. 6, to one side of an electric motor 101 which has its other end connected by a wire 102 to the ground 103, or truck chassis 14.

The said motor 101 has projecting therefrom a shaft 104 on which is a circular or disc-like cam 105 including a raised portion or lobe 106 which cooperates with the roller 107 on the outer end of a pivoted arm 108 associated with the switch 91.

In operation, the operator of the truck when starting to fertilize, seed, or the like, a field strip closes the manual switch 96 in the cab which effects the operation of the electric motor 101 and which motor while rotating at a relatively slow rate of speed will, at definite intervals, longitudinally of the strip being Worked over, rotates or operates the cam 109 and thereby at said intervals close the motor switch 92 and thereby open the solenoid valve 85 and permit the discharge of the liquid marking material through the nozzle 86 and thereby producing a marking spot 110, see FIG. 3.

- FIG. 8 is an electrical wiring diagram including practically the same mechanism illustrated in FIG. 6 with however a slight modification in that the motor 111, similar to motor 101, supra, has on its shaft 112 two cams 113 and 114 each of which controls a switch 115 and 116 through a depressible member operable by a projecting portion or lobe 117 and 118 on the respective cams 113 and 114. The said motor 111 while under control of the foot switch 96 to operate the cams 113 and 114 the said switches 115 and 116 are under control of a second switch 172a, single pole double throw switch, having its movable member or arm 118a connected by a wire 119 which extends from the positive wire 94. Said switch 117a has one of its selective terminals 120 connected with a wire 121 that terminates in the switch 115 from which extends a wire 122 to the valve solenoid coil 87 and which wire 122 is similar to the wire 88,

supra.

The second selective terminal of the single pole double throw switch 117a has connected thereto one end of a wire 123 that terminates in one contact of the switch 116 and which switch 116 has its other terminal connected by a wire 124 and the wire 122 for one side of the solenoid valve coil 87.

By this construction the user is permitted to utilize either of switches 115 and 116 for closing electrical circuit to the valve solenoid coil 87 and thereby obtain various spacings due to the various lobes on the cams 117 and 1 18. In other words cams 113 and 114 may either be provided with more than one lug or may be provided with lugs of different lengths for thereby holding the normally open switches 11-5 and 116 in a closed position depending upon whether the switch 117a is in the position illustrated in FIG. 8 or its alternate position.

Obviously the switch 117a may be mounted within the truck cab 17 or may be mounted somewhere on the rear end of the truck adjacent the motor of FIG. 3.

From the foregoing it will be noted that the truck or other self-contained and self-propelled vehicle operates, in timed relation to the speed thereof, a means for feeding or supplying to the the earth a treatment, for example, a fertilizer, disenfectant, or the like. Obviously, the

rate of feed of these or any other elements from the truck body is in accordance with the desires and condition of the operator and soil.

The field or earth is being treated for a width equal to the length of the booms or feed tubes which, as noted above, is from 20 to 60 feet from end to end and assuming the said feed tubes or booms being of equal length would place the operator in the center of the strip or from 15 to 30 feet from either edge of the strip. Obviously, if but a single boom or feed tube were used the distance of the operator from the strip edge would be the length of the said single boom or feed tube.

The materials being spread on the earth are not particularly discernable by the naked eye after spreading for a distance of 15 to 30 feet and while setting in the cab of the self-propelled vehicle. In order to advise or apprise an operator of the edge of the strip against which the next strip or field will be treated, it is desirable, if not necessary, to mark the edge of said treated strip by means that are decernable.

The marking, as noted above, takes the form of a liquid spot colored by some dissolvable material such as powdered dehydrated lime, which is white, and can be made of such concentration that it is readily visible, discernable, to the operator while in the truck cab for a distance of thirty (30) feet and even sixty (60) feet. As diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3, this mark or circle of white powder is indicated by the reference character 125. The proportion of the drive mechanism is such that not only the proper amount of fertilization, disenfecting compound, or the like, is placed on the earth but that the marking spots 110, formed to a diameter of approximately one and one-half (l /2) feet, are likewise automatically made and wherefore the said marking spots are not only visible from the operators position in the cab, but will also maintain a straight line up to which the second strip of earth treatment Will be placed without overlapping the first strip to any appreciable extent, or, again, without providing an appreciable 'urrtreated portion between the strips.

Furthermore, the arrangement or timed rotation of the drive mechanism or drive chain is such, that a marking spot 110 is placed on the soil every so many feet, it being considered that 60 feet is a gooddistance'between spots. In other words, approximately every 60 feet along the outer edge of the strip being treated there will be a marking spot 110 and Which spots will be readily decernable by the operator and at the same time will be in a straight line or otherwise as determined by the vehicle operator.

While, in the drawings use is made of feed tubes for feeding and spreading materials on the earth, it is to be understood that any other form of means or mechanism for treating the earth may be employed, such as a distributing disc frequently employed at the rear of the truck at a discharge opening into the bottom of the truck. The heretofore well-known disc distributors for the treatment of the earth rotates in a plane parallel with the earth and evenly distributes the materials across a strip of practically the same width from one end of the field to the other.

Obviously in using this type of earth treating mechanism there would be a necessity to use a boom of a length and in substantially the same position as either of the feeding tubes, supra.

In view of the foregoing, it is believed that the objects initially set forth are accomplished.

What is claimed is:

1. In a field marker of the class described the combination of a self-propelled power movable vehicle, an electric battery on said vehicle constituting an electric source for effecting the operation of the vehicle, means on said vehicle for treating a field stripwise in the direction of movement of the vehicle, said treatment being in strips adjacent one another in the direction of movement of the vehicle and each strip being of a substantially equal width, a tank of liquid marking material including coloring material distinctive in color from the color of the field being marked, a tank on said movable vehicle for holding said colored marking liquid and from which tank the colored marking liquid is expelled in successive similar small amounts, a compressed air mechanism including a container on the vehicle for effecting the successive relatively small amounts of discharge cuit for a definite length of time'and thereby opening the anism and container to one side of the colored marking liquid tank for connecting the compressed air with said liquid, a discharge hose from the other side of said tank for conveying the liquid from the tank to the spot of markingrernote from the vehicle, -a discharge mechanism from thelother side of the tank containing the marking liquid, and means'in said discharge conduit for preventing flow through the conduit, said colored liquid flow preventing means being in the form'of an electric solenoid control valve, an electric circuit'for opening said valve to permit a surge of colored liquid to pass through the lower end of the tank and thereby discharging a'quantity of colored liquid on the ground indicating edge of the strip being treated. a I

2. In a field marker of the class described as set'forth in claim 1 characterized by, said means for opening the valve including an electric motor oper'atedfrorn the battery of the power mechanismfor actuating the vehicle, and a cam having thereon a projection for closing 'the cirvalve and permitting the discharge of the colored marklngliquid.

' 3. In a field marker of the class described as set forth in'claim 2 characterized by, said control mechanism for actuating the electric motor including an on and 0 switch operable by the projection on the cam.

4. In a field marker of the class described asset forth in claim 1 characterized by, said electric circuit for opening the control valve including a motor electrically connected with the electric battery of the movable vehicle operating means, a control circuit for said solenoid operated valve including a pair of switches in said circuit,

and a plurality of cammed members for opening and closing said control switches for thereby opening and controlling the solenoid valve which permits a small amount of discharge from the colored liquid marking tank onto the field.

' References Cited 

